Smokey Joe Williams

Joseph Williams stood 6-foot-4, threw right-handed, and possessed a fastball that batters said looked like a pea. He pitched for nearly 30 years in the Negro Leagues and in barnstorming games against white major leaguers, no-hit the New York Giants while striking out 20, went 20-7 in documented exhibitions against big-league competition, shut out Grover Cleveland Alexander's Philadelphia Phillies 1-0, and at 44 struck out 27 Kansas City Monarchs in a 12-inning game. In 1952 the Pittsburgh Courier assembled a panel of 31 Negro League veterans and sportswriters to name an all-time team, and the panel voted Williams the greatest pitcher in Negro League history, one vote ahead of Satchel Paige. Ty Cobb called him "a sure 30-game winner in the major leagues." The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Seguin

Williams was born on April 6, 1886, in Seguin, Texas, a small town east of San Antonio. His father was African American and his mother was of mixed African-American and Comanche ancestry. He grew up tall and lean, started throwing baseballs as a teenager, and joined the San Antonio Black Bronchos in 1905 at 19. He pitched for the Black Bronchos through 1909, compiling extraordinary records against regional competition: 28-4 in 1905, 20-2 in 1908, 32-8 in 1909. He ran up a 20-game winning streak during those Texas years. Rube Foster recruited him to the Chicago Giants in 1910, recognizing the arm and the competitiveness that would define Williams for the next two decades.

Lincoln Giants

Williams moved to the New York Lincoln Giants in 1911 and spent most of the next 13 years as their ace, team captain, and occasional player-manager. He pitched with an overhand delivery that generated speed the way his nickname suggested, and he backed it with the stamina to throw complete games deep into extra innings. In 1914 he went 41-3 across all levels of competition, striking out 100 batters in 17 games against major-caliber black teams.

His exhibition games against white major leaguers established his reputation beyond the Negro Leagues. In 1912 he shut out the National League champion New York Giants 6-0. In 1915 he beat Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Phillies 1-0 on three hits, striking out 10. In 1917 he no-hit the Giants and struck out 20, but lost 1-0 on an error. No box score from that game survives; the account rests on oral history from players who were there. Across his career, Williams went 20-7 in documented exhibitions against major league clubs, defeating five Hall of Fame pitchers: Alexander, Walter Johnson, Chief Bender, Rube Marquard, and Waite Hoyt.

Williams threw approximately 40 no-hitters over his career, the last recorded in 1928, when he was 42. On August 2, 1930, at 44, he struck out 27 Kansas City Monarchs in a 12-inning, one-hit, 1-0 victory. The opposing pitcher, Chet Brewer, struck out 19 in the same game. Two catchers had to spell each other behind the plate because Williams wore them out.

Homestead

The Lincoln Giants released Williams in 1924 during a youth movement. He spent a season with the Brooklyn Royal Giants, then joined the Homestead Grays in 1925 and pitched for them through the early 1930s. He recommended Buck Leonard to the Grays, helping to bring one of the great hitters in Negro League history to the club. On the 1931 Homestead roster, considered one of the finest black teams ever assembled, Williams was 45 years old and still pitching effectively alongside a staff that included Bill Foster and Double Duty Radcliffe.

Williams retired after the 1932 season and became a bartender in Harlem at 547 Lenox Avenue. He traded his toeplate for a shot jigger, as historian John Holway put it, and entertained patrons with stories from his playing days. The Amsterdam News reported that "he gave away a good deal of what he made."

The Polo Grounds

In 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby broke the color barrier, organizers held "Smokey Joe Williams Day" at the Polo Grounds. Williams, 64 and in declining health, attended and spoke. "The important thing is that the long fight against the ban has been lifted," he said. "I praise the Lord I've lived to see the day." He added: "My heart is weak now. I've got to use elevators, no more bouncing up and down stairs."

Williams died on February 25, 1951, in New York City, of a heart ailment. He is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. The 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll, conducted the year after his death, asked its panel to select an all-time Negro League starting rotation. Williams received 20 votes. Paige received 19. The greatest pitcher in Negro League history, by a margin of one vote, was a tall Texan of African-American and Comanche descent who threw a fastball that looked like a pea and never got to prove what he could do in the major leagues.

In 2001, Seguin, Texas, named a baseball field at Fairgrounds Park in his honor. Bill James ranked him the 52nd greatest baseball player of all time, one spot behind Sandy Koufax at 51st. The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1999 alongside Orlando Cepeda, Frank Selee, and Nestor Chylak.